Celebrating Summer with SALSA!

We gathered last night with tons of tomatoes, piles of peppers, gaggles of garlic, oodles of onions, and the scent of cilantro to make a big batch of salsa. It was great to have lots of hands for chopping, peeling, stirring, and, of course, chatting as we worked. We were very impressed with our first effort and final product -- our first reviewers (Tim and Kurt) say our salsa is better than "Jack's." (and much less expensive!) It will be great to crack open the taste of summer in the middle of the cold, Michigan winter.

We're already talking about next year and making our list of other supplies that will make the job a bit faster and easier. Here's the recipe we used and adapted. We added more tomatoes and a few extra spices (pepper and cumin).

Zesty Salsa for canning
(recipe adapted from Recipezaar.com)

Quantities in parenthesis are what we used for 5 batches of salsa.

10 (we used closer to 12) cups chopped tomatoes (approx. 2.5 bushels)
5 cups chopped bell peppers (30-35 peppers)
5 cups onion (2 bags)
1 cups hot peppers (mild) – up to 2.5 cups for hot salsa (approx. 15)
1 ¼ cup cider vinegar (64 oz.)
3 garlic cloves (4-5 bundles)
2 Tblsp. cilantro, minced (2 big bundles)
3 t. salt
1 heaping t. black pepper
1 heaping teaspoon cumin
1 6 oz. can tomato paste (5 cans) – could use more to make thicker salsa

Combine all ingredients except tomato paste in large sauce pan and simmer until desired thickness (about 15-20 min.). Stir in tomato paste. Pour into jars. Process 15 minutes in hot water bath.

Makes approx. 6 pints.

Optional: Add 2 cans black beans and sweet corn to salsa.